We are in the presence of greatness.
Sasha Three Shows and Bayley Three Brands. Bayley spoke about a phone call she received from Undertaker, or Taker when she calls him. Taker called her and was embarrassed that everyone paid tribute to him last week, when Bayley is clearly the greatest champion in WWE history. She implored WWE to have a tribute to Bayley and Banks. Bayley said that with the documentary Last Ride over, Undertaker is finally over and Bayley releases a tribute video.
Bliss Cross Applesauce came out later and had some interesting facts of their own, which was kind of a failure across the segment, but got better when they hit the ring. Nikki said she can’t wait to take the women’s title in Extreme Rulesand Bayley and Sasha laughed at her. Nikki attacked Bayley and THIS TIME Sasha made a game for Bayley! What a great touch to finally have those things changed.
Bayley forced Bliss to slap herself, and scoffed at Nikki. How funny! The game was fast and ended in a DQ when Nikki attacked Bayley after attacking Sasha.
Bayley and Sasha were absolutely amazing for this entire segment. Holy shit. I mean The Taker, obviously a fake phone call to the tribute video and the undeniable fact that they are the workhorses of WWE right now, fighting at all three brands and for good reason! This is not a triple feature of the Charlotte Flair people. They are the champions of the women’s team. They It should be in every brand, because all women’s teams should want to be champions. Now, you could argue that they haven’t defended each brand’s label titles and each has their own stories with the best champions, but … semantics. Every show is a true joy. Never turn Bayley into a baby face again. Never.
By the way, did you notice what title Sasha had around her waist after that game? She is a professional at this.
Freezing bro
Michael Cole interviewed Riddle in the ring. Matt said he loves being on SmackDown now and that he loved celebrating his victory over AJ with all the SmackDown fighters. Cole asked him about barefoot wrestling, and Riddle continues about how as a kid he froze and when wearing shoes, he still feels a burning sensation. So Bro doesn’t wear shoes anywhere.
The lame Baron Borebin interrupted, of course, and said he was an idiot. He said no one wants him on SmackDown and that he will always be around to make Riddle suffer. Threw up. Throw up all this.
Boy, they didn’t give Bro any help with that opening promotion. For the record, I don’t know if that story about your feet is true, but if it was, it wasn’t credibly delivered. A little overuse on “Bro” friend. But clearly that will be their thing, so we’ll have to deal with that dot gif.
Now the game, that was really good. Morrison hasn’t had a bad match that he can remember since I came back to the company. It hit a splash from the body of the diseased corkscrew and Riddle kicked him out. Riddle hit Borebin with a flip flop because of course. I need to see Riddle’s mission to Lesnar someday. Come on, WWE. Roll ups were exchanged but Riddle claimed victory.
If they were going to make Morrison the Riddle’s opponent tonight, why the hell would Borebin have to be there? Miz is a great conversationalist and could have interrupted instead. WWE’s insistence on taking out this boring, annoying and exaggerated trick makes me very angry. I hate King Corbin. Stop. Divine grace. I 100% disconnected the comments here, so if something interesting were said, I wouldn’t know. And, for heaven’s sake, don’t make Miz and Morrison your new lackeys. OMG I don’t need another group of guys to lean back and do Borebin’s orders.
I have declared a new name change for Baron Corbin here and I believe it will be maintained for a time. If he can change his name, so can I. Lean in, Borebin.
The rest
AJ Styles def. Drew Gulak – Someone else who can’t have a bad game is Drew Gulak! Daniel Bryan said it best in one of his Zoom interviews on Gulak: Gulak can never be ruled out. AJ was so shocked by Gulak, that he needed to drive him away with a Clash of Styles and a Phenomenal Forearm. Gulak rolled through a calf crusher and stabbed into the crossed face. Styles hit a medium snap snap. AJ also hit an amazing brainbuster. A Michinoku controller and a superplex were not enough to drive AJ away. This was a phenomenal match, with a play on words. I wouldn’t mind running this again and again. In fact, every time WWE thinks about putting Borebin on TV, I’ll take a Gulak / Styles match to counter him. Hell, I’ll take a Gulak / Any match any day.
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Kofi Kingston – One of the best continuity pieces every week is Big E and Kofi throwing their jackets at Corey Graves. Kofi hit Nakamura against the plexiglass and Big E, being the treasure he is, howled with laughter for a minute. Cesaro was shot cheaply by Kofi and Big E threw him out. Kofi hit a flying forearm and a dropkick while standing, and tried to hit the Trouble in Paradise, but Nakamura hit Kinshasa for the victory.
Cesaro and Nakamura have had enough and want a change! And it’s about time! During the entire time that Sami Zayn has been away, The Artists staggered and became Borebin’s lackeys for a few weeks. A legitimate tag team never in title dispute until now. They have been a team for months! So finally next week, they get a shot at the title. Thank you!
Sheamus and Jeff Hardy continues – And it’s drizzle shit. It is stupid. Now I find it very uncomfortable to see even something related to this angle. Shame, WWE, for dragging this shit even further and not ending it in Backlash. This is an incredibly uncreative and unpleasant story. FOX shouldn’t even allow this shit to air. It is not worth appearing or being heeded. This segment is classified as a large, fat F on its own. For the rest of the show, see the rating below.
The main event put me in a bad mood. It’s a shame WWE can do things so well and then do things so stupidly wrong. WWE deserves all the negativity they get for putting Jeff Hardy through this terrible angle. Bayley and Sasha were the MVPs and they won everything in my mind. After tonight, I can’t wait for the Morrison singles to run. I’m not ready for Bro vs. Borebin.
Grade b
Safe and happy on July 4th, Cagesiders! What did you think about SmackDown?
